November 10, 2023

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• Watson and Mrs. Rollins are such a great team and I love how much they affect our students.  This week, I saw Watson welcome students that were tardy for school.  One student looked like her morning was rough, but one minute with Watson and she was all smiles on her way to her classroom.  I am so glad to have this team at our school!

• Shout out to Chris V. who starts off our Dodgeland Den kids' days with consistency and a welcoming smile.  Thank you so much Chris!

• 2nd graders had a great conversation about how to make friends and examples of how to be kind to another. We read "How to Lose All Your Friends" by Nancy Carlson.  It was a great conversation starter!

• I was reminded of the Mailbox Buddies program that has been in place for a couple of summers now.  I can not believe I forgot to mention it at our staff meeting this week.  This was a great way to put new books into students hands over the summer. Thank you Christina, Sue and Mitch for working on this!

• Shout out to Stephanie Plewa for National School Psychologist Week! We are so lucky to have such an amazing psychologist at our school that keeps us all on track and supports our students and their learning!

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, November 13
• Bus Duty: Anderson, Miller, Huso, Mosher (4K/5K playground)
• American Education Week begins

• Tuesday, November 14
• Social Media posts due to Jessica: Miller, Lucht, Riege
• SEL Data meeting - 2nd grade 12:05-12:55pm in Elem conf rm
• Lunch Detention Supervisors
• Huso - 12-12:30
• BCaine - 12:30-1:00
• Bingen - 1:00-1:30

• Wednesday, November 15
• Workout Wednesday
• Academic Data meeting - 1st gr 12:05-12:55pm in Elm conf rm

• Thursday, November 16
• Lunch Detention Supervisors
• Schuett - 12-12:30
• Donovan - 12:30-1:00

• Friday, November 17
• Jenny in meeting from 10-11 am
• SEL Data mtg 4K 11:40-12:25pm in elem. conf rm
• Pyramid Model Leadership mtg @ 1pm in Elem. conf rm

Nitty-Gritty

• TA schedule for Friday, 11/10
• The schedule for High School has changed on Friday due to the assembly.  If you have a TA on Friday this may affect when they come to your classroom. See below:
  
• 1st hr: 7:50-8:17
• 2nd hr: 8:20-8:47
• 3rd hr: 8:50-9:19 (then transition to HS gym)
• 4th hr: 10:25-10:53
• 5th-8th hour are normal time periods

• Sound and Lighting Equipment
• On November 15, the audio and lighting equipment will be set up for the high school musical performance in the Multipurpose room.  It will be important for students to stay away from the system during PE and it also could affect any possible indoor recesses as well.  Please help remind / reinforce how important it is to be careful in PE around this equipment.

• JamBoard Alternative
• If any of you use JamBoard in your classrooms, you may have heard that it is planning to be discontinued by Google next year.  If you are looking for an alternative to this, there is a program called Kami.  Click HERE to see a blog post describing it and the main page is HERE.

• Clearview Request
• This week I had a call from the Director of Life Enrichment at Clearview.  She is looking for ways to provide some intergenerational activities for her residents.  They have not been able to have any children visitors in the past 3+ years due to COVID.  They are now open for visitors.  This could be in a variety of options.  Anything from singing/playing concerts, reader's theater, etc.  If you have an idea for ways that our students could show kindness, citizenship, leadership, etc and make their day as well, let's talk about ways to make this happen.  The director's name is Amanda Stein and her email address is astein@co.dodge.wi.us

• So, I am failing so far...
• These ducks just keep appearing.  And now they seem to have found some friends to join them in the shape of tiny colorful babies.  I will admit that I am enjoying the mystery of figuring this out.  Here is what I know.
• They have not made it to the district office.  
• The MS and HS level have no idea what I am talking about when I mention it.  (The looks on their face as I describe it tells me they think I am losing my mind as well!)
• They are appearing inside drawers, pockets, refrigerators and even the supply room.
• The ducks (and now babies) are noticed, but not always within a narrow enough time for me to narrow down my options.
• I am suspecting that the suspect is recruiting help.
• Just so you know, I do not give up easily. :-)

TechKnow Tip

Cult of Pedagogy is a great website by Jennifer Gonzalez for all things instruction, classroom management, and technology. She has outstanding blogs, podcasts, and videos about the art and science of teaching. I particularly love her article “What to Do on Lame Duck School Days” where she shares 30 alternatives to movie watching on “lame duck days” such as the days before a holiday break. She has the activities broken down into low, medium, and high-prep to help find a good fit for you and your classroom.

PD Spotlight

So I had an experience this week where I felt like the most ineffective and worst teacher/principal in the world.  I had a small group of children who gave me a run for my money.  It was not a shining moment for me.  So I took a deep breath, admitted that I need help and then I started looking for research and help.  I started with my colleagues and then I started to look for other research as well.  Here is one thing that I found, that I am going to try.  This article describes ways to talk to students that will affect the culture of the classroom.  I especially like that it describes the way you want to say something and then follows with another way to say a similar thing and also explained why the suggestion may have better results.  I share this with you in case you find yourself in a similar situation.  As we talked about this week, we need each other and together we will move forward.  Please see Teresa, the pupil services team or myself if you want to talk through anything!

Friday Funny

And we wonder why it is so tricky to learn how to spell and read in English.  Bless you all for the work you do to help our students become strong readers and writers!